Layered Cranberry Salad Recipe With Cream Cheese Topping

To be honest, this cranberry salad recipe, with its sweet & tangy cream cheese topping, is probably more of a dessert, but we serve it as a side dish at all of our holiday dinners… SO good, a MUST TRY recipe!

Cranberry Salad For Thanksgiving

I honestly don’t remember when this cranberry salad recipe first started making an appearance at our family’s Thanksgiving dinner table. Somewhere along the way, a lovely little slice made its way to a separate plate at my place setting, and from then on it was a yearly tradition — right alongside my Grandma’s cream corn casserole. It wouldn’t feel like Thanksgiving without these two dishes!

Oh wait… You caught that separate plate thing, huh?! Have I mentioned that I absolutely cannot stand to have my food touch? Can’t. Stand. It. So if you’re planning to invite me to a large dinner at your house, plan on having extra plates available for this mama!

Anyhow, back to the cranberry jello “salad” — if that’s what you really want to call it. It’s one of those retro recipes that teenagers have a tendency to turn up their noses at. I know I sure did…

I mean, it was made with cranberries, eeewwwww! At that age, cranberries ran a close second to asparagus. In my mind they were sour, slightly tough, and generally to be avoided at all costs. And Jell-o?!? Um, no thanks — pass the mashed potatoes, please.

Cranberry Jello Salad With Cream Cheese

But then I took my obligatory bite… and my world was forever changed. Seriously.

There are so many flavors and textures going on in this cranberry jello salad. Layers of ingredients that I never would have thought about pairing, but somehow they JUST WORK. And the results will rock your world!

The pineapple and Jell-o add just enough sweetness to counter the tartness of the cranberries and the cream cheese/sour cream topping. I mean, really — how can you go wrong with that combination?

Top the whole thing off with plenty of toasted walnuts or pecans for a bit of crunch and extra flavor, and you’ve got a to-die-for salad/side/dessert whatever-you-want-to-call-it.

Easy Cranberry Salad Recipe: Dessert or Side?

Truthfully, this easy cranberry salad is more of a dessert. But if you’re coming to my house for Thanksgiving, you’ll find it served as a side with the turkey and all of the trimmings. And who’s counting anyhow?!? Especially on Thanksgiving…

I should note that I don’t JUST serve cranberry salad at Thanksgiving. It’s also ideal for Christmas dinner, Easter dinner, really any time. My kids request it often throughout the year, and I’m always happy to make it!

Layer number two is simply a mixture of softened cream cheese, sour cream, and granulated sugar. I could just eat this stuff with a spoon! And I’m warning you now, the whole family will fight over who gets to lick the beaters — so make it after they’re in bed. Then they’re all yours. ;)

Two quick things to note, and then I’ll drop the recipe:

1| I’ve forgotten to buy the cranberry juice before, and if that happens, you can just substitute an equal amount of water. The end result is slightly less tart, but if your family won’t drink the rest of the juice, you may want to just skip it and avoid the waste.

2| DO NOT use fresh pineapple in this recipe. Fresh pineapple contains an enzyme called bromelain, which will prevent the gelatin from solidifying. Use canned crushed pineapple, as the bromelain is destroyed during the canning process.

Layered Cranberry Salad Recipe

Yield: 16 servings

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 3 hours20 minutes

To be honest, this easy cranberry salad recipe, with its sweet & tangy cream cheese topping, is probably more of a dessert, but we serve it as a side dish at all of our holiday dinners... SO good, a MUST TRY recipe!

Cream together cream cheese, sugar, and sour cream with a hand mixer until smooth.

When the cranberry jello mixture is firm, spread the cream cheese topping over the top. Garnish with additional chopped toasted walnuts or pecans. Refrigerate for about an hour to allow the topping to firm up.

Notes

DO NOT use fresh pineapple in this recipe -- it will prevent the gelatin from setting up.

Cranberry Jello Salad With Cream Cheese Topping

I’ve head from SO many of you that you hate to cover up the beautiful cranberry jello layer, and I totally get it. This is one reason why I prefer to serve it in a 9×13″ Pyrex glass baking dish — so you can see that gorgeous ruby red color through the side.

But you can totally offer your guests the best of both worlds. Simply prepare the cream cheese topping as directed in the recipe, and refrigerate it in a separate bowl. Then you can just top each slice off with a dollop when serving. Either way, don’t forget to save some extra toasted walnuts or pecans for the garnish!

I’d love to see how your cranberry salad turns out… Tag me @Unsophisticook on Instagram or use the hashtag #Unsophisticook so I can check it out. Enjoy!

How do you prefer your cranberry jello salad, with or without the cream cheese topping?

My recipe calls for 2/3 C Rose’ wine. The only other difference is that my recipe calls for only 1 C of hot water instead of 1 1/2 C. I guess mine has a more concentrated flavor. I make this every Thanksgiving and every Christmas! We love it.

The cream cheese and sour cream combine to create a creamy topping that’s a bit tart from the sour cream. You could use Cool Whip, but you’d end up with more of a no-bake cheesecake type layer instead — which I think would also be very good!

Thank you for sharing what is now a new family favorite!! I followed your recipe to the letter and it turned out beautifully, everyone loved it!! This will be a must have added to our Thanksgiving table from now on, but I doubt we will be able to wait another year before I am requested to make it again. LOL

Aww Tara. What a delicious topping. (Finger test) I put the jello mixture in the freezer for about 15 min. before adding just to ensure a nice firm surface. How gorgeous it looks. Can’t wait to show it off tomorrow. I was a home ec teacher, and I love coming up with and reading about the little things that can make such a difference. Thank you for bringing me out of my comfort zone cranberry jello salad. I used to let my kids wear their paper bag Indian vests and use their handmade Thanksgiving projects on my table and walls for decorations. Enjoy your children, and make lots of pictures.

Okay Tara. Off to the races, making your salad again for a Xmas party tomorrow night. It’s a party with lots of Miami people who most have know each other since high school. (And we are not young anymore) it’s outside of course with lots of fried turkeys, live music and Ubers. Just like you said, everyone at Thanksgiving keep asking if it was desert or salad. Hey, it’s delicious, let it be what ever you want I say. Thanks again for a keeper. Keep up your good work. Oh, how I wish I had internet all these years. However, my hand written recipes are priceless to me. Merry Christmas! Gotta decide on a cookie recipe for my huge cookie exchange party. Some of the same people…we had 4 generations represented last year. Keep in touch with the girlfriends!

I just popped the jello mixture in the fridge. Wish I had read reviews earlier as I just ran out to get cranberry juice. That’s all I needed and the grocery store was brutal day before Thanksgiving. I have made a similar salad for 30 years. This is the first time I have “strayed” from my old Jr. League of New Orleans recipe. Mine used cherry jello, grated apple, the juice from pineapple and then stir the remaining pineapple into cool whip to top it. The cream cheese mixture idea won me over for this year. Your should see all the red stains in the page of my old recipe book. Happy Thanksgiving!

Aww, I totally feel your pain. I realized earlier that I forgot to get the peanut oil to fry our turkey, so now I have to make a run to the store. Hoping that if I wait until later this evening it will have died down some — and I thought I was doing so good by shopping earlier this week on Monday night… Hope you love it, and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Careful with that fried turkey! Dangerous, but delicious. Freeing up the oven though is such a good thing. I live in Ft.Lauderdale and used to cook turkeys in the gas grill. That was before fried turkeys came on the scene. My husband would have loved the danger aspect. He love the electric knife, and I used to say he would use the chain saw if I would let him. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Hi Sandra! I don’t think I’d recommend adding just fresh cranberries — the Jell-O layer needs the extra “bulk” that the sauce provides. I haven’t tried it, but I’d say you could probably use an equivalent amount of homemade cranberry sauce. Or perhaps you could add some fresh cranberries to the recipe as written.

Hi Belinda! I know — it’s such a shame to cover up that gorgeous ruby red. Unfortunately, I’m not sure how well it would work. I think the warm Jell-O mixture might just melt the cream cheese layer when you pour it over. But I think what might work is prepping the cream cheese mixture and then refrigerating it until you’re ready to serve the cranberry salad. Then you could just dollop it on and sprinkle a few chopped pecans over top, leaving some of the red color showing around the edges for a gorgeous presentation. I just might have to try that this year!

Why not layer it so you have some of the cranberry mixture on top? Put a layer of the cranberry mixture, let set, spread on cream cheese mixture, pour over remaining cranberry mixture (it should be room temp. by now). Do you think that would work?

I did everything correct. It was the fresh pineapple. Apparently there is an enzyme in fresh fruit that isn’t in canned. So canned is always better. I salvaged it by draining the liquid and mixing the fruit with cream cheese, sour cream and sugar. Still taste great just not jello. Haha!

I just wanted to let you know that your Cranberry Salad was a big hit with my family yesterday. My dad asked me to make a cranberry salad for Thanksgiving this year, and I said “What on earth is cranberry salad?”. I googled it and, after some searching, found your recipe, which looked much better than any of the others that came up. It was very easy to make, and turned out beautifully. Everyone that tried it loved it. Thank you so much for posting it!